This is not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer who knows telemarketing law before you launch any texting campaign. What follows is the operating picture every GM should understand before touching a dormant lead list.
Here's the problem: your CRM has 21,000 names in it, most of them silent for 90 days or more, and somebody on your team wants to blast all of them with a text this week. That single move can create more legal exposure than every other marketing tactic at your dealership combined. TCPA claims are cheap to file and expensive to defend, and a stale lead list is exactly where violations hide.
What is TCPA and why does it apply to text messages?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is a federal law that governs marketing calls and texts to consumers. Courts and regulators treat a marketing text the same as a marketing call for consent purposes. If your dealership sends a text with promotional intent (a sale, an offer, a "come back in" nudge tied to inventory or price) it falls under TCPA rules, not just spam-filter etiquette.
Quotable definition: TCPA compliance for dealership texting means having prior express written consent to send marketing messages to a specific number, honoring opt-outs immediately across every system that can text that lead, avoiding contact outside the 8am-9pm window in the recipient's local time, and registering your messaging traffic through A2P 10DLC. Miss any one of these and a single reactivation text can become a legal claim.
Does an old lead in my CRM still count as consent?
This is where most dealers get hurt. A customer who filled out a form in 2022 to get an internet price quote gave consent for that interaction. That consent does not automatically cover a marketing text you send in 2026 offering a trade-in incentive. Consent language changes, phone numbers get recycled and reassigned to new owners, and the original disclosure attached to that form may not have covered SMS at all.
Aged CRM data is risky precisely because it looks usable. The record has a name, a phone number, a date. It looks like a warm lead. What it often lacks is documentation of what the customer actually agreed to, in writing, at the time. Before you build any reactivation list, you need to know which records carry real, current, written consent for texting and which ones don't. That distinction is the difference between a converted lead and a complaint.
What does "prior express written consent" actually require?
For marketing texts, you generally need a clear, written agreement from the consumer that:
- Identifies your dealership by name
- States that they're agreeing to receive marketing texts (not just service or transactional messages)
- Is not required as a condition of any purchase
- Was captured through a method you can produce later (a signed form, a checkbox with timestamp, a documented opt-in flow)
If you can't produce that record for a given phone number, treat that lead as a phone-only or email-only lead until you get consent through a compliant channel.
What else has to be true before you hit send?
Consent is the first gate, but it's not the only one. A few durable rules that apply regardless of how the FCC's guidance shifts around the edges:
Scrub against the National Do-Not-Call registry. If a number is on the DNC list and you don't have an established business relationship or documented opt-in that overrides it, don't call or text it for marketing purposes.
Respect time windows. The safe, well-established rule is no marketing calls or texts before 8am or after 9pm in the recipient's local time zone, not your dealership's time zone. A lead in a different time zone than your store changes your send window.
Honor opt-outs immediately and everywhere. If someone replies STOP to any number your dealership uses, that opt-out has to propagate across your CRM, your texting platform, and any third-party tool touching that lead. A partial opt-out (stopped in one system, still active in another) is a common and avoidable violation.
Register your traffic through A2P 10DLC. Application-to-person messaging over 10-digit long codes requires registration with carriers. Unregistered traffic gets filtered or blocked, and it also signals to carriers and regulators that your messaging program isn't being run through a compliant channel.
None of this is exotic. It's closer to basic hygiene, but it requires a system that actually enforces it lead by lead, not a spreadsheet someone updates when they remember.
How is this different from CASL if I operate in Canada too?
If you run rooftops in both the US and Canada, don't assume one compliance approach covers both. TCPA leans heavily on prior express written consent for marketing texts. Canada's CASL allows more room through implied consent, with a defined window (generally tied to an existing business relationship) during which you can contact a lead without a fresh written opt-in, though that window expires and CASL has its own opt-out and identification requirements. Treat them as two separate rule sets. A campaign that's compliant in Ontario is not automatically compliant in Ohio.
What should a GM actually do this week?
Start by finding out how much of your CRM even qualifies for texting. Most dealers have never audited this. Run a Lead-Leakage Audit to see how many of your dormant leads have documented, current consent versus how many are guesses. Then look at how a compliant reactivation process actually works end to end in how it works, and pull the Dead-Lead Playbook for a practical sequencing guide that respects consent, time windows, and opt-outs by design rather than as an afterthought.
Reactivating dormant leads is worth real money. At 1-4% conversion on a typical 21,000-lead CRM and a $40K average vehicle, that's $8.4M to $33.6M in recoverable revenue sitting untouched. But every dollar of that has to come through a process that won't hand you a TCPA complaint instead of a sale. If you want to see how a compliance-built reactivation system fits your rooftop, book a fit call.
This is not legal advice. Confirm your consent language, your registration status, and your opt-out handling with an attorney before you send a single reactivation text.